Google Play Movies & TV is an Android app that operates as a window into the Google Play store in order to let you rent movies, and then allows you to stream or download the same files via a web page, Android phone or Android tablet, as well as letting you view your videos from other sources on the same devices. See also: Best Android Apps.

Google Play Movies & TV is as important to Google as the Nexus 7 itself. The Nexus is, as we know, a loss leader from Google aimed at generating more revenue via the Google Play app and media store. It's why Google is giving away £15 of credit with each Nexus 7 purchase, and why the product itself costs less than the sum of its parts.

Google Play Movies & TV is an app for compatible Android 2.2+ phones and 3.2+ tablets. It is a video player - you can play your own video files through the app. More importantly, alongside Google Play Music it is Google's answer to iTunes, in that it purports to be a consumer-friendly one-stop shop for movies and TV.

Google Play is different, however. This app is principally a player for movies you rent and a means of helping you to find new movies to watch. The movies themselves can be found on Google Play, and then downloaded to or streamed over Google Play Movies & TV.

Using Google Play Movies & TV

Opening up the Google Play Movies & TV app on our Nexus 7, we find two tabs at the top: 'Movies' and 'Personal Videos'. US users will find a third tab for 'TV Shows' but here in the UK we are not so blessed, for licensing reasons. The Personal Videos section displays videos you create using your Android smartphone or tablet, as well as any videos that you copy over to your device via a USB cable. This is a more likely route for Nexus 7 users, as its camera is a basic webcam for use in video calling. Unfortnately, it's by no means the most versatile video player for Android. You'll need another third-party app in order to play QuickTime movies, for instance.

More fun can be found under the Movies tab. Here are self-explanatory sections entitled My Rentals and My Movies. These display all of your recent Google Play movie rentals, as well as any films you have purchased from the Google Play store (not currently possible for UK users).

Each movie entry includes artwork and information, as well as whether you have downloaded it and how long you have left in order to watch it. Movie rentals cost from £1.49 to £3.49 in standard def, going up to around £4.49 for new Hollywood movies in HD. There are lots of movies in the Google Play store, including recent Hollywood releases and a good number of classics. Once you've rented a movie you can view it on any device - Android phone or tablet, or even at play.google.com/movies on any web-connected PC, laptop or Mac. Watching online is straightforward - sing in to your Google account and you can watch just as you would on your Android device.

We tried streaming 'Transformers: Dark of the Moon' on our Nexus 7 over Wi-fi and found the quality perfectly adequate on the 7in tablet's display. Our office's flakey Wi-fi was a problem, however, and playback was occasionally a little jerky. You can also stream over 3G, so truly mobile movie watching is possible, although the signal would have to be robust.

We were more successful when we downloaded 'TT: Closer to the Edge', a movie that then played seamlessly. The rental purchase system is simple, too: you are already logged in to a Google account with either credit or a credit card attached, so you simply hit rent and the movie is yours. We'd recommend the download options for the reasons outlined above. It took around 25 minutes to pull down 'TT' to our Nexus.

The rental system could be confusing to a stupid person. You have to watch rented movies within 30 days of making a purchase. Once you start watching you have 48 hours to finish watching the film - and you can watch the film multiple times throughout that period.

Combined with the large numbers of Hollywood releases now proliferating the Google Play store, and hardware such as the Nexus 7, Google Play Movies & TV is a game changer for Google. It offers a seamless and consumer friendly way for Android users to watch high-quality movies. We'd like to be able to buy movies, and the 'TV' part of the app's name is currently a misnomer, but both are licensing issues and should be resolved in time. This app is great news for Android users.

Google has unveiled its new Nexus Player – the first Android TV streaming set-top box. Immediately, this new device was pegged as an Apple TV rival, so here we've put the two head-to-head in our Google Nexus Player vs Apple TV comparison.

The Nexus 7 and Nexus 10 are two very popular, incredibly good-value tablets sold under Google's name but, aside from differences in the price and screen size, what's the difference between the Nexus 7 and Nexus 10? We explain all in our Nexus 7 vs Nexus 10 comparison review.

With Google Play, the Android entertainment options have taken a large step forward. The slick interface and good choice of titles, plus a sensible pricing structure ensure Android users will be won over by the natively available video on demand option.

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Comments

Ronald Olson said: Im using Google Chromecast so I can play the movies on my TV

Arran Sykes said: It should be much clearer that you cannot watch HD on the pc I bought Skyfall for 1199 HD instead of 999 SD only to unfortunately realise I can only watch it in HD on Supported Android devices not my pc Which sucks because I do not have an Android phone at the moment

Jonathan 0629 said: Great article Matt For those who live outside US like me you can access Netflix Hulu and similar media stations on your Google TV by using UnoTelly or similar tools

Marimansell said: Why carnt I play movies offline on my ipad with google play movies

Welovetom said: Well Michael I think thats quite a silly thing to do - the rental terms are quite clear

Jon Towler said: The biggest Draw back of Google Movies is the fact that most films are rent only then the ones you can finally buy are only SD with HDreservedfor Android devices which typically have small screens This is one area Google have completely Messed Up

Dillsta411 said: Im am just wondering if you buy a nexus device in a country that cant access Google play movies and then movie to a country that can would it be possible to then access Google play movies

Michael said: I am a massive fan of Android and am using my new Nexus7 over my IPad The biggest draw back is that you can only Rent films I went on holiday and downloaded 2 films Had a quick look at the first one on the plane then started to watch the second I got 34 of the way through the film and we had to land No problems i thought I will watch the rest of the film on the flight backOne week later I got on the return flight and to my amazement there was no films They both had disappeared because you only have 48 hours to watch them from when you first opened them This is a huge drawback and until they let me buy a movie or the rental say lasts for a month I will have to stick to buying from ITunes on my IPadNot very good Google

Matt Egan said: Its a strange compromise I agree the deal is you need Wi-Fi to download on order to watch on the move Thats the weird thing about the Nexus 7 - its a portable device without cellular tech But over Wi-Fi it does work well

MarkG said: It does not seem very practical or enjoyable to watch movies on a smartphone and if you were not hooked up to WiFi then the downloading or streaming of such large files would be very costly

Matt Egan said: Im not sure that you can because they are rentals so the files will have all sorts of licence coded into them Try downloading then using your device as storage and pulling the files on to a PC Then you can investigate I have to say that as long as your device can install Google Movies you can sign in on any device and watch movies you have bought Appreciate that is no use if you have an older device however

Dsmithy said: Thanks for clarifying Google Play Movies How do I play the downloaded movie through a diferent media app ie MX Player ProDice I want to mirror such films onto my Panasonic DT30 but get picture only and no sound Thanks I would certainly use their offering as its so simple - if I can choose a different player